Many surgical procedures require accurate cuts of bone. For example, in mandibular reconstruction surgery, deficient or infectious portions of the mandible may be removed from the patient and replaced with bone graft. In some instances, a surgeon performing mandibular reconstruction surgery typically makes several cuts on the mandible to properly fit a bone graft. To make an accurate cut, the surgeon may use a resection guide to guide the motion of the resection tool toward the bone. The resection guide can also be used to cut a bone portion from other anatomic locations of the patient in order to harvest bone grafts.
As discussed above, resection guides are typically used to make accurate cuts on the patient's anatomy. Although many resection guides have been developed over the years, it is still desirable to produce resection guides that are specifically designed for a particular patient in order to enhance cutting accuracy.